VCarve Desktop Fails to Complete Tool Path

[jdsmith500]

I posted this on the Vectric forum and was advised to post it here. I am running VCarve Desktop and a newly purchased Shark HD 3. I have VCD installed on a computer outside my workshop. I have another computer in the workshop dedicated to my cnc. I am trying to carve an image of crossed golf clubs for a set of corbels for a mantel. Everything goes great until I get to the finish tool path. I am using a 1/8" tapered ball nose for the finish. The first time I ran this program, it locked up and did not complete the program. I didn't know what was happening. So, I deleted the tool path from my thumb drive and created a new tool path from scratch. This second time the program ran beautifully until it reached line 17,007, which was 94% of the program. Again, everything locked up. By "locked up" I mean the whole screen became unresponsive--just like the first time. At line 17,007 I saw nothing unusual. There were the normal G02, and the x, y, and z figures--nothing else! Anybody have any suggestions? A couple of folks on the Vectric forum suggested the problem might be with my hardware and not the software at all. That's possible, I suppose. But, I wanted to run this through this forum just in case anyone else has had a similar experience with a Shark. Thanks, James

[jeb2cav]

I would look at 2 things before contacting NWA:

1 - make sure the sd card in the control box is firmly seated. I'd pop it out and reseat it.

2 - make sure that any and all power saving settings on the computer you are using with the shark itself are set to none/never off/always on.

When you say 'locked up' - was the cnc machine still moving, or stopped? It sounds like at that point the Shark Control Panel was 'frozen' as well.

[jdsmith500]

I have turned off ALL of the following in the computer I have dedicated to my cnc: anti-virus app, auto update, screen saver, energy saver, sleep mode, and I am operating off-line. Also, I have installed an APC battery backup with power conditioning and surge protection. I wonder if I have forgotten anything that might cause interference while running a program. This afternoon I ran a short program and it worked fine. Tomorrow I will run a two-hour program and report on how it goes.

Joe, thank you for your reply. I'm not aware of an sd card. Does my Shark HD 3 have such a thing? Also, you can see from above that I have done as you suggested. Again, thanks, Joe.

James

[jeb2cav]

Hi James,

Depending on the computer and the operating system, one of the sometimes culprits is power management - and the USB port aspect of this. Sounds like you've looked at that.

Yes, there is an SD card in your Shark Control Box - you can access it from the back. The steps to access it are covered in the Shark Users Manual - which you can download from the NWA site (I think). Many folks on this forum have run 18 hour and longer toolpaths - so this is a defect of some sort.

[jdsmith500]

Joe, Thanks. I'll check out the sd card. About the USB port, are you referring to the connection between my computer and the controller? I have not been doing this very long, but on the few occasions that I have run the cnc I have had more than one tool path--changing bits in between runs. It seems that when I do this, I get and error message that the controller is NOT connected. I have to disconnect the connection between the computer and the controller, let it sit for about 15 seconds, and then plug it back in. I've had to do that with other computers from time to time. When I do that, everything seems to be okay. Is this the USB issue you were referring to? I believe the culprit is the buildup of static electricity or something like that.

James